Folk Arts Grants

Missouri Folk Arts Program’s director serves as the Program Specialist for Missouri Arts Council’s Folk Arts Grants, which are awarded to Missouri-based, tax-exempt, not-for-profit organizations to sustain and showcase folk arts in local communities.

MAC Folk Arts grants fund concerts, festivals, workshops, exhibits and other artistic events. Currently funded organizations include: Boonslick Area Tourism Council; City of Lee’s Summit Parks & Recreation Department; Downtown Branson Betterment Association; Folk Alliance International; Historic Bethel German Colony; Kansas City Folk Festival; Laclede’s Landing Neighborhood Association; Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers; Ozark Mountain Music; Sugar Creek Fair and Festival Board; and the University of Central Missouri’s Office of Student Experience and Engagement.

MAC follows the National Endowment for the Arts’ definition of folk and traditional arts:  . . . those rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. Community members may share a common ethnic heritage, cultural mores, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice. Genres of artistic activity include, but are not limited to: music, dance, crafts, and oral expression.

Applications are available from the Missouri Arts Council: https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/grants/